Chinese employee wins iPhone 17 for Lunar New Year only to discover it was fake

A hospital worker in China was overjoyed to receive a new iPhone 17 from his employer, but his happiness quickly vanished when he opened the box and realized it wasn’t what he expected.

Lunar New Year celebrations officially started on February 17, 2026. To mark the occasion and welcome the new year, the employee’s hospital hosted a party and gave away a valuable prize to one staff member.

So, this worker named Jiang actually won an iPhone 17 in a giveaway! I looked it up, and the base model usually costs around $860, but the gift receipt that came with his phone showed someone paid almost $1,450 for it. Talk about a sweet New Year’s bonus – I wish I had that kind of luck!

Everything appeared genuine: Jiang won the iPhone in a public drawing at the hospital, with his coworkers as witnesses. He even received the phone in an official Apple bag, complete with the purchase receipt.

When Jiang got home, he was disappointed to find the ‘expensive smartphone’ from his job was actually a prank. The box contained just three lollipops, two chocolates, and a handful of tiles.

Man says company turned his iPhone 17 prize into “April Fools” joke

In a popular social media video, the frustrated employee described the incident and suggested the company’s event planner might have been playing a harmless prank on him.

Jiang was clearly upset. In a video, he explained that he’d hoped 2026 would start well, but the year-end party felt like a practical joke to him.

Chinese news reports indicate the hospital didn’t authorize the iPhone purchase, suggesting the supposed ‘gift’ was fabricated.

People on Chinese social media felt sorry for Jiang. Surprisingly, he’s not the first employee in China to become famous online for winning a prize while at work.

In late 2025, a tech company intern in Shanghai won an NVIDIA graphics card at a company event. Instead of letting him keep it, the company demanded he give it to them, but he chose to resign and keep the prize.

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2026-02-18 21:49